Simple sophistication

"When I make a painting, the motivation may be a simple idea, or a common fact, rather than something deep," he says. "I have been painting what is in my mind these days, more than what is before my eyes. I want myself to be even more imaginative, to invent scenes in my paintings. It is something subjective and independent."

Guang got his bachelor's and master's degrees in printmaking at CAFA, but driven by what he calls his "wild flights of fancy", has since ventured into watercolors, oil paintings, photography and sculpture to expand his embrace of art.

Sometimes he likes to add witty commentaries to his work. The New Year's cards on display are one example.

"Every year I design one for the Chinese New Year, not only because this is something printmakers routinely do," he says, "but also because I see it as a form of a compact with the world, that as long as I live, I will make art."